The second stage of the 2016 will end up in Anras with an unseen uphill finish. GdTM returns to Austria three years later: “A tribute to the World Championships in Innsbruck and to Nerino Ioppi”

After the clock, here come the climbs: but when you speak of Giro del Trentino Melinda, that should be no surprise. And it’s a fact that, in almost four decades of history, GS Alto Garda organizers never stopped looking for new routes, and climbs in particular.

So, after the classic start in Garda Trentino, Giro del Trentino Melinda packs its luggage and heads to Austria, for the eighth time in its history and three years after the race start in Lienz, in 2013, with the great challenge between Vincenzo Nibali, Cadel Evans and Sir Bradley Wiggins. On Wednesday, April 20th, the programme says Arco-Anras, 220 km: a long and demanding stage with the sting in the tail, just after the race trespasses the Austrian border.

Anras, a small village on the Lienz Dolomites, 20 km away of the main city of the area, will present the first uphill finish of the 2016 Giro del Trentino Melinda: testing the favorites will be a 4 km ascent, with a 7% average gradient. A rather short effort, a pretty tough one though: an unseen finish that will arguably call on the streets a bunch of fans from Tirol, fresh off the news that the 2018 Road World Championships will take place in Innsbruck, Austria.

In the backstage of Giro del Trenino Melinda’s return to Austria – as well as of the race start in Lienz 2013 – there’s all the drive and passion of Franz Theurl and Astrid Trojer-Pirker, Lienz Tourism Board’s President and Organizational representative: a deeply symbolic occasion. “The World Championships in Innsbruck will be a hugely important event for cycling in Austria, and in Tirol in particular – Franz Theurl explained. “To bring back here the champions of Giro del Trentino Melinda is an awesome way to start breathing the atmosphere of top-end cycling, and start a very demanding – and we hope, very gratifying – three-year period to the 2018 event.”

“Not less importantly, – Theurl added – we wanted to be part of the 40th Giro del Trentino Melinda to honor a great friend of us, Nerino Ioppi. This will be the first time without him, and we really hope he will feel happy and proud of the race he has put so much effort and passion in for many years.”

Arco-Anras is the second stage of the 2016 edition (April 19-22) unveiled by GS Alto Garda’s organizers. Once again, the race will start on the Garda Trentino banks with a 12,1 km team time trial from Riva del Garda to Torbole, on Tuesday April 19th.

Shortly, the Giro del Tretino Melinda’s programme will be completed with two more stages, with more intriguing occasions for climbers arguably coming up.